Dove Song

By Kristine L. Franklin

Book Overview

As a young college student in the early 1970s, Laurie Wagner had never camped out, never gone hiking, and never lived without electricity or indoor plumbing. Yet she walked away from these comforts and headed for the wildest reaches of Montana to live with a man she had not met in person. When I Came West is Laurie Wagner Buyer's account of her terrifying and exhilarating years in Montana as she changes from a girl too squeamish to touch a dead mouse to a toughened frontierswoman unafraid to butcher a domestic animal. Living in a cabin far away from family and friends, with the nearest neighbor four miles away, Laurie finds herself caught up in two love affairs: one with the volatile Vietnam vet Bill and one with the untamed West--even as she recognizes, in the words of one neighbor, "It is plumb foolishness to love something that cannot love you back." While her relationship with Bill grows precarious, Laurie forges a lasting relationship with her surroundings: the rivers, the wildlife, and the people who inhabit such remote corners. Peeling away the romance of escaping to the wilderness, When I Came West reveals the brutality and bounty of a world far removed from modern urban life.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0763604097
• ISBN13: 9780763604097
• Release Date: August 1999
• Publisher: Candlewick Press (MA)
• Length: 190 Pages
• Weight: 0.90 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 5.7" x 8.4"
• Age Range: 10 to 14 years
• Grade Range: Grades 5 to 9

Customer Reviews

Ambers review on Dove Song

Daddy is leaving for Vietnam to help as a mechanic. Hes being shipped overseas. So they decide to move so they would be closer to him, but daddy just got upset about it because he thought we should stay close to family in case of dire need. But that just made mama mad because she didn't get along with the family. The next morning daddy left. Bobbie went to school the next day, and found out everyone was mean besides one girl. On the second day of school she met the girl, her name was Wendy. She invited her over after school, but she said she didn't know. At recess she taught her how to whistle with her thumbs. When she got home there was no one home, so she decided to go ahead, and go over to Wendy's house. They whistled, and the doves came,and they had a great time. She left, and went home, and that is when every thing went down hill. Her brother told her they had just found out about her daddy, and MIA.

Dove Song

Even though Bobbie Lynn moves all over the country because her dad is in the army, she never likes moving and having to make new friends. When her father gets sent to Vietnam, and the family moves from Texas to Washington State so they can all be near him before he ships out, Bobbie Lynn worries. She's too big and she's shy and, to top it all off, she has a weird haircut that the kids at her new school make fun of. But that's not all Bobbie Lynn worries about. Without her father around, Bobbie Lynn's mother, who has always been a little delicate, seems even more so. Bobbie Lynn and her older brother Mason are scared. They don't know when their dad is coming home, and they don't know what to do about their mother --- all they know is that they promised their father they'd take care of their mother. Even if it means stealing food, Mason and Bobbie Lynn will keep their promise and their secret. Then Bobbie Lynn befriends an odd girl named Wendy Feeney, who's everything Bobbie Lynn isn't. She's small, but she talks back when she gets picked on. And she says strange things, like swearing that everyone has a guardian angel. Well, if that's true, then where, Bobbie Lynn wonders, is her guardian angel? This book is an interesting look into what it's like having a father in the army. But more than that, it's a look into living with a parent who has a mental illness. Because Bobbie Lynn feels disloyal getting help from anyone, as if her mother is her responsibility, her love gets in the way of what's best for her family. DOVE SONG is a novel about love and about family and what holds it together. And, as it turns out, it just may be about finding your guardian angel. --- Reviewed by Katie Torpie

Dove Song _ By Kristine L Franklin

Dove Song is a good book for any kid who understands what it feels like to be under presseure and knows how it feels to have to take care of someone elses needs. It is about a young girl in 6th grade and her brother whose father was sent to war in Vietnam and their mom who is under a "horrible spell" in who they have to take care of they dont have much yet they survive. I would reccomend this book.

Well written in detail

It a book that shows a story of just how strong the bond between siblings can be and how friendships can blossom when you least expect them. Bobbie Lynn's father is sent to vietnam and so her mother moves her and her brother Mason to be near him on his base on the other side of America before he leaves and it is here that Bobbie Lynn meets Wendy. None of the other girls like Wendy, but Bobbie Lynn finds her self befriended with the girl unafraid to hoot like a dove and dance around the play ground all the while laughing, but when her father is found missing in action her mother reactes much differently then she had ever acted before and it takes her bond with her brother Mason and the comfort of her friendship to learn what the difference between asking and not asking for help can mean. Short as it is, it is filled with a wonderful story anybody can relate to in some way.

Fantastic Read!

This is such a moving book I couldn't put it down! the characters and situation get the reader tied in and leave you craving for more. I would suggest this story to anyone interested in the Vietnam War and it's effects on family members of soldiers. Actually, I think anyone could get hooked on this one! A definite must!